Buenos Aires

Around the city

23.01.2013 - 23.01.2013 32 °C
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We had a big day today. We went out and saw the sights of Buenos Aires. We took the hop on hop off bus. We headed out of the hotel at 8am and got back at 4.30pm and we can say that we certainly saw a lot.
Some of the places we visited were:
Casa Rosada - This is known as the Pink House and is home to Argentina’s presidential offices. Construction began in 1862 and the building was painted pink shortly after.

The Metropolitan Cathedral – This was again a very impressive building. There is a mausoleum inside which is the final resting place of the Liberator General José de San Martín, Argentina’s independence leader, and an eternal flame burns outside in his honor.

The Floralis Generica - This is a gargantuan solar-powered flower sculpture and at dawn its enormous metallic petals open to the sun and at dusk the flower delicately closes for the night.

The National Congress – This was an impressive building. It is colossal and is topped with a green dome. It was modeled on the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, and was completed in 1906.

Torre de Los Ingleses - Big Ben in Buenos Aires. This 76m clock tower, located just across Plaza San Martín, was donated by the city’s British community in 1910. Decades later, it was a bomb target during the 1982 Falklands War.

Caminito – This is part of La Boca. It’s most famous street is lined with brightly painted houses and local artists selling their work.
Camonito 1

Camonito 1

Monument to the soldiers fallen in Malvinas (Falkland Islands) - This cenotaph is a memorial to the fallen soldiers during the Malvinas war. The cenotaph was inaugurated in 1990 and is composed by 25 granite plaques that have the inscription of the 649 soldiers’s names that fell during the war.
Argentina_..nd_Memorial.jpg

We also walked across to the Puerto Madero area via Puente de la Mujer - Puerto Madero is femme-friendly: all the streets in the neighborhood are named after famous ladies, and the striking Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman) is the barrio’s signature monument. Unveiled in 2001 it represents a couple dancing the tango. The bridge also swings open to allow boats to pass through.